


The Festival of Brightly Colored Candies

by tonepoem



Category: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Genre: Calendrical Warfare, Candy, Crack Treated Seriously, Curtainfic with Purpose, Gen, Shopping, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 06:24:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8833822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonepoem/pseuds/tonepoem
Summary: As remembrances went, the Festival of Brightly Colored Candies wasn't one of the bad ones.  It was consistently one of Kel Cheris's favorites.  She desperately wished that she didn't have to spend it trying to overturn the established social order (as one did).





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [astrokath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrokath/gifts).



> I got plotbunnied by one of your prompts so I wrote you a second treat. Enjoy!

As remembrances went, the Festival of Brightly Colored Candies wasn't one of the bad ones. It was consistently one of Kel Cheris's favorites. She desperately wished that she didn't have to spend it trying to overturn the established social order (as one did).

Right now, she was holed up in her office giving herself a headache double-checking the assignments. She'd given the orders last night, but she was always worried that something would go wrong. And with the fate of the entire hexarchate at stake, she couldn't afford for something to go wrong.

"Snacking?" a familiar baritone drawl came from behind her.

Cheris came to attention with a start. Standing in the doorway was a familiar figure, taller than she was and resplendent in full formal. She'd always hated being a short Kel. Maybe someday, after this was all over, she'd feel free to wear heels. Or platform shoes. Or maybe the servitors could loan her a levitation unit.

Cheris tried to hide the fact that she was sucking on a licorice moth. She _loved_ licorice. It was also borderline heretical, since it had to be imported from outside the hexarchate. She wasn't even sure exactly where it came from. To be honest, she didn't know a whole lot about foreigners other than how to shoot them.

"Jedao," she said to the man, suppressing the irritation in her voice, "don't _do_ that. One of these days you're going to sneak up on the wrong person and they'll shoot you out of reflex."

"Yes," Jedao said, unperturbed, "but I'm undead. I'm not fussed about a few little holes." He grinned at her look of dismay. "Is everyone prepared for the op?"

"I've been reviewing the plan," Cheris said. "To be honest, I've never dealt with this many people before."

"That's what your minions are for," Jedao said.

"You mean subordinates."

"Whatever. And besides, trust me, _everybody_ likes candy." Cheris blushed. "At least you won't have any problems motivating people."

Belatedly, Cheris spotted a telltale wrapper partly tucked into one of his pockets. "Have you been eating Strawberry Pocky _again_?"

Jedao smoothly pushed the wrapper down further into the pocket. "So what if I have?"

She glared at him. "You could jeopardize the whole op! Pocky isn't on our Approved List of Candies!" She fished in his pocket, came up with the offending wrapper--there were two sticks of Strawberry Pocky in it still--and confiscated it. "Can't you take anything seriously?"

"But there was no Pocky in the black cradle," Jedao protested. "Kujen seemed to think it was good for me to be on a diet, as if I wasn't undead already."

Cheris bit down on what she'd been about to say.

Jedao twisted away from her and glanced over the mess of diagrams, charts, and logistical tables at her terminal. "Very good," he said. "We'll be ready to start in an hour."

"No thanks to you," Cheris muttered.

Jedao grinned at her. "I'm just here to provide moral support."

She shuddered. "If this is your idea of 'support,' I hate to think what you do when you feel like making a pest of yourself."

"But foxes are totally trustworthy," Jedao said, all innocence.

Cheris refrained from throwing a licorice moth at him.

* * *

At 5:30 PM _exactly_ , busloads of Kel shoppers descended on the Great Hexarchate Mall. Each squadron of Kel had a mission: to shop at the exclusive candy boutiques, and buy very specific, dark-colored candies. Only Kel would do for this purpose.

Corporal Kel Isaure got off her bus, hefted her shopping bag, and grinned ferally. Next to her, Kel Niaad recoiled. "What's the matter, soldier?" Isaure asked. "Afraid of a few people?"

From Niaad's expression, her words had struck home. "I don't like crowds," Niaad mumbled, not meeting her eyes.

"Chin up, soldier," Isaure said. "If we're going to overthrow the hexarchate, we have to do this _exactly right_." Coordinated shopping: the best kind. She had her suspicions that the funds their squadron had been provided with which to buy candies had not, strictly speaking, come from a legitimate source, but she couldn't care less about details like that.

At this hour, the Great Hexarchate Mall was not only open but festively decorated. Sappy music poured from the speakers. Isaure couldn't stand sappy music. That was all right, though. Once they were done ransacking the Mall, she hoped to change the music to heavy metal or something more appropriate.

"All right, people," said their lieutenant. Isaure watched him with a bored expression. "You all have your assignments. On my mark, get moving--those shopping crowds will be vicious. GO!"

Isaure grabbed Niaad's arm and yanked him with her through the doorways.

He yelped. "You almost pulled my arm out of its socket!"

"Don't be such a sissy," Isaure said as they trotted toward their assigned chocolatier. Really, without her to look out for him, the man wouldn't have any chance of surviving. Crowds in the Great Hexarchate Mall were nothing to sneeze at. Besides, if they turned ugly, she could always throw him to the masses and run.

Indeed, the crowds almost crushed them on the way to the chocolatier. Isaure dealt with the situation by forcing Niaad to walk in front of her and using him as a sort of makeshift battering ram to force their way through. Niaad looked desperately unhappy at this turn of events, but it worked, didn't it?

They grabbed the items on their shopping list once they arrived. Traditionally, the chocolatier made everything from dark chocolate festooned with orange peel to milk chocolate with pralines available, and even a dubious substance known as Nutella. Proper hexarchate citizens were supposed to purchase approved white or gold-dusted chocolates, but they were here to do just the opposite.

Isaure also took the opportunity to snag some Ovaltine lurking on a dusty back shelf. Ovaltine was almost impossible to find in most of the hexarchate. She had developed a taste for it earlier in her career, when she served near the border. The price tag made her wince, but she was going to do what she had to do to fuel her addiction.

"What are you doing?" Niaad said in a fierce whisper. "That's not on the list!"

"That's for _me_ ," Isaure informed him. "I have a Frequent Chocoholic discount card here, so that combined with the funds that we were given means that I have enough for Ovaltine."

"You shouldn't--"

She clamped her free hand over his mouth and glared at him. He subsided. Niaad had always been conveniently easy to intimidate. It was one of the reasons she kept him around.

They rammed their way to the head of the line, ignoring protests, growls, and oaths. Isaure had already calculated the total cost of all their purchases and handed over her chits. The cashier's eyes widened slightly at the quantity of money, but he stamped the Frequent Chocoholic card without raising a fuss.

"That's it, objective achieved," Isaure said as she tucked her shopping bag safely under her arm. "Come on."

* * *

Cheris was busy overseeing the readouts. Too bad she couldn't make Jedao help her. He was perfectly capable of interpreting the data, but she didn't _trust_ him.

"It's working," Cheris said, sagging in relief. "The hexarchs won't even know what hit them."

"Of course it's working," Jedao said, infuriatingly nonchalant. He snagged a licorice moth out of her candy bowl and popped it in his mouth.

"I'm going to miss the fruit candies," Cheris admitted. "But if changing this remembrance to the Festival of Dark Colored Candies is what it takes to bring freedom to the masses, that's what we have to do."

"I know," Jedao said. "I almost don't mind giving up Strawberry Pocky. I'll just eat something else."

Cheris had turned her back for just a second to answer a call from one of her captains when she heard a munching noise. She spun back around only to catch Jedao eating a Matcha Green Tea Pocky. She snatched it out of his hand.

"You're going to mess this up _again_!" she said in exasperation. "Matcha Green is still Brightly Colored!"

"Oh," Jedao said, looking sheepish. "You should have told me earlier. I can't tell colors apart, remember?"

Cheris put her head in her hands and groaned.


End file.
